The U.S. Commerce Secretary, Gina Raimondo, said she is pushing for the easing of pandemic restrictions that bar much of the world from visiting the country.
“We’re working on it,” Raimondo told Reuters in an interview. “I’m pushing really hard.”
As Open Jaw has reported, Raimondo has lots of allies in the form of other state politicians and U.S. travel industry representatives. Last month, a group of 75 U.S. Congress members signed a three-page letter to President Joe Biden urging him to end border restrictions with Canada.
However, Raimondo’s efforts may be hampered by other officials who remain concerned about further outbreaks.
Raimondo did say she met with the U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra last Friday, but had no info on when a decision would be made. According to sources familiar with the discussions, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg has joined Raimondo in pushing to lift travel restrictions into the U.S.
The U.S. is continuing discussions with Canada as well as the EU, Britain and Mexico, but American travel industry officials believe restrictions won’t be lifted until AUG or later.
The border closure between Canada and the U.S. expires 21JUL but is widely expected to be extended by mutual agreement. Throughout the pandemic, it has been renewed on a monthly basis.
The White House has ruled out a national vaccine passport that could facilitate travel.
“The CDC is nervous, and it’s hard to know if people are vaccinated,” Raimondo said. “There’s no vaccine passport that’s reliable and that’s kind of a big hurdle.”
According to Reuters, some European diplomats argue that the restricted countries list is partly arbitrary. They point out that the list of countries facing the most severe travel restrictions include some with low infection rates, whereas other countries, like Argentina, face no restrictions despite a high infection rate.
